


Promise to Remember

by jellyturtle



Series: Past, Present, & Future [2]
Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band), ITZY (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Eventual Fluff, F/M, First Love, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23962708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellyturtle/pseuds/jellyturtle
Summary: “I waited more.” She grasped his hand tighter as the smile on her face widened, illuminated under the full moon with eyes that shone with affection. “… Longer than you.”He blinked.Longer than him? What did that mean?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Byeongkwan may not remember the past, but Ryujin doesn't mind sharing it piece-by-piece at a time.
Relationships: Kim Byeongkwan/Shin Ryujin
Series: Past, Present, & Future [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727596
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Promise to Remember

“Look at you!” Ryujin laughed as she swatted away Byeongkwan’s attempts to snatch the phone from her hands.

“Hand it over Shin Ryujin!” He gritted his teeth, taking a second to laser his piercing eyes on the person sitting across from him before turning his attention back to her.

But Jaeyoung was completely unfazed. In fact, he had such a wide grin on his face that all 32 of his pearly whites were on full display, openly amused at Byeongkwan’s fury. It took every atom of Byeongkwan’s patience to keep himself from lunging at the older boy to choke that stupid grin off his face. After all, it was Jaeyoung who had caused this mess in the first place.

Jaeyoung had been pestering Byeongkwan for some time about being properly introduced to his girlfriend as ‘the future Best Man’ – something that Byeongkwan smacked him for before swearing that the other wouldn’t even be invited to his wedding.

(Not that he and Ryujin were getting married anytime soon, but he could dream about the future, couldn’t he?).

After months of Jaeyoung nagging as well as guilt-tripping him _(“I pushed you to man up, didn’t I?” The older sniffled dramatically),_ Byeongkwan reluctantly set a date and time to introduce his best friend to his girlfriend. He should have known it from the evil glint in the older’s eyes the moment he confirmed the date that it would be a **horrendous** idea.

While he and Jaeyoung strengthened their friendship during MixNine, Byeongkwan had completely forgotten that there had been a time period in the past where they had trained together in the same company. Byeongkwan wasn’t too attached to his trainee days at JYP and had left most of his memories behind him. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t have been said for his friend, whom seemed to remember every little detail about their high school and post-high school days.

Byeongkwan didn’t have a problem with taking a stroll down memory lane and recalling past events. What he **DID** have a problem with was the abundance of evidence that Jaeyoung was able to produce with each friggen’ recollected story. How Jaeyoung even managed to have **that many** incriminating photos of Byeongkwan was a feat in itself, a feat that Byeongkwan was willing to commit murder for.

Or maybe hara-kiri out of embarrassment as his girlfriend went through his best friend’s embarrassing photos of him with glee.

“Oppa, you’re so cute here!” She giggled as she went through yet another appalling photo of him posing like a gangster with his other trainee friends.

“I didn’t realize you had a hip-hop phase.” Her teasing voice as well as Jaeyoung’s chuckles in the background was driving him off the edge.

“I didn’t! Will you stop-“ He tried to wrestle the cursed device from her hands so he could smash it to pieces, but her grip was strong.

“Oppa, stop!” Even while struggling, laughter continued to trail from her lips. “You’re gonna break the phone.”

“That’s the idea!”

“Kim Byeongkwan! I’ll have your head if my phone breaks.” But Jaeyoung’s deep voice carried no threat, completely harmless as he roared with laughter.

“I’ll have **YOUR** head when this is all over!” He snarled back, mustering all his strength to rip the phone from her hands.

But Ryujin didn’t seem to mind, falling back onto the couch as she held her stomach, continuous giggles erupting from her stomach.

Byeongkwan huffed as he shot dirty looks to the laughing individuals he was currently sandwiched in-between.

He did not break his quarantine for **this** – to be at a small tea shop at 3 in the morning, tired and stressed out as his girlfriend and soon-to-be-ex-best-friend teased him mercilessly. The whole world was wrapped in enough chaos and he had to deal with **this** on top of it? Heck no!

He silently cursed himself, the regret of not keeping his social distance from the **BOTH** of them coursing through his veins. When his glare proved to have no effect on them, he turned his piercing eyes to the stupid phone but what he saw next caused him to freeze.

During his grapple with Ryujin, one of them had accidentally swiped to the next photo. It was a group photo, not one of his embarrassing “Cool Kidz Crew” shots he used to take with his buddies, but a normal shot. It was a photo of several of the JYP trainees, taken by one of the female trainees during a game.

Byeongkwan was the only one standing up, holding an orange sweater. While he still looked like a dork, he was no longer embarrassed because there was another individual in the shot who caught his eye instead. In the right corner of the photo, was a young girl who was sitting down with a few other female trainees. She had such a serious expression on her face that he could have easily mistaken her for an older trainee, only that she had the same bright doe eyes that he would recognize anywhere.

He slowly turned his head to face the girl who was actually grown-up, yet still had the same doe-eyes.

“Ryujin-ah…”

Her laughter faded and her lips curved to a pout as she looked at him curiously. She glanced down into his hands and her eyes widened, her body stiffening slightly.

He looked at her helplessly as he willed his mind to flash back to that time, desperate to remember any tidbit he had about Shin Ryujin. But before he could say anything else, Jaeyoung had leaned forward and was already taking his phone back.

“That’s enough of the past.” The older boy hummed, leaning back into his seat as he slipped the phone into his pocket.

“What- H-how?” Byeongkwan felt so lost, even more so when his memory returned blank.

He had nothing on Shin Ryujin, could recall nothing. What was scary was that he remembered when the picture was taken and what game they were playing, but he didn’t remember seeing her there. Woong was there and so was Daehwi; Chaeryung and Chaeyeon too. But Ryujin? She wasn’t there, not in his memories at least.

He turned to Jaeyoung feebly, who merely smiled at him as he sipped on his bubble tea. He turned to Ryujin, but she did the same, biting her straw. The two of them silently exchanged looks, although the expressions on their faces displayed that there was more to it than they were letting Byeongkwan in on; especially Ryujin.

There was a mysterious smile on her face, the same smile she gave him during MixNine when Byeongkwan felt nothing but loathing for her. It was also the same one she gave him that day in the storage closet when she had boldly confronted him, the same one that tugged her lips the night of her graduation when he had confessed.

“Where did you get that photo?” Her voice was soft as she looked at Jaeyoung with a pensive smile.

“Woong-ie sent it to me.” He had a thoughtful look on his face.

“It’s also on the internet.” She chuckled quietly, going back to her drink as Byeongkwan reeled.

There was a picture of him and Shin Ryujin as JYP trainees on the **INTERNET**? And he didn’t know about it?

He felt dizzy. What was he missing? What did they know about that he didn’t? What happened?

The rest of the meeting seemed to go like a blur, with Ryujin and Jaeyoung attempting to engage each other in conversation as Byeongkwan thought quietly to himself.

_“I waited more.” She grasped his hand tighter as the smile on her face widened, illuminated under the full moon with eyes that shone with affection. “… Longer than you.”_

He blinked.

Longer than him? What did that mean?

He kept to himself the rest of their time together, desperately scourging through his memories to see if he could recall even the minuscule thought of Shin Ryujin. He drew a blank each time, which only increased his tension and frustration. Even as he bid Jaeyoung good-bye, he could hardly pay attention to what was in front of him, too deep in his own head.

“What’s on your mind?”

He felt her warm hand slip into his and she gently tugged so that he would face her. A teasing smile played on lips as she grinned at him.

“You’ve been awfully quiet. Are you still mad about the photos? Honestly, Oppa! You looked cute! I mean it-”

“We’ve met before, right?”

The way she froze proved to Byeongkwan that he wasn’t being delusional.

“At JYP.” He really looked at her, gazing into her eyes with desperation evident on his face.

For a moment she was quiet, but her hand remained in his, her doe-eyes, mysterious once again. Then she smiled.

“Of course, we did. We were trainees at the same time at one point.” She gripped his hand tighter with resolve.

His heart sank. The smiling Ryujin in front of him was not the Ryujin he knew – with a faux innocent smile and evasive eyes.

He could have let it go, he knew she wanted him to by the way she shifted from one foot to the other. But he couldn’t.

Byeongkwan was a fighter and refused to let go of anything, especially when it came to the things he cherished. He just couldn’t. So he persisted.

“You knew me. We MET. Not just as trainees, as something else…”

At that, her smile faded and he felt her loosening her grip on him, but he clutched her hand tighter as he took a step closer to her. He refused to let her create another gap between them.

“Ryujin-ah…”

“You don’t remember.” A faint smile appeared on her lips and she looked down. “It’s not important.”

His heart clenched at the sight of her looking so down, obviously saddened.

“I don’t remember…” He confessed, feeling an uncomfortable squeeze in his heart as she deflated.

But he reached out his fingers to cup her chin and lift her face so he could give her a gentle kiss.

“But I want to…” He whispered against her breath as he planted another soft kiss on her.

“I want to. Tell me? Please Ryujin-ah… Tell me.”

She remained silent, staring up at him with doe-eyes that suddenly appeared so heavy. It reminded him of MixNine, where he had gazed at her the same way the day he won the Finals. He’d do anything to loosen the burden from her.

But then, suddenly she tip-toed to brush her own soft kiss on his lips. He blinked in surprise as she backed away, letting go of his hand to create a small space between them. She looked away from him as she spoke.

“You were my first love.” She said it so nonchalantly, Byeongkwan would have thought she was talking about bubble tea.

“… From JYP?” He asked, unsure of where this was going.

“From JYP.” She confirmed, stubbornly keeping her eyes away from him.

“I was?”

“I mean, you are.” She corrected herself, a wry smile coming on her face. “I’m not out of love with you… yet.”

She let out a quiet laugh as he scoffed.

“You’d better not be. I already told you, you’re mine now. I’m not letting you go.” He took a step forward to draw her back to him, letting out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding when she didn’t push him away.

“Please.” She rolled her eyes, but he could see a small, yet genuine smile forming on her lips.

“I mean it!” He insisted. “I’m not letting you go. You’re-” He paused, a small smile forming on his own lips as he thought of his next words.

“I’m yours…” He felt his cheeks heat up at her surprised expression, but chose to continue his bold words. “I’m not letting you go, because… I’m yours.”

There was no need for him to feel that embarrassed because it was true. That’s what she told him the day he confessed. She claimed he was hers because he confessed first. He didn’t know why his cheeks felt as hot as they did or why he had stuttered, but seeing how her face immediately lit up at those cheesy words made everything worth it.

“Oh gosh, Oppa!” Ryujin shook her head but he knew from the sound of her laughter that she was pleased.

“You’re mine?” She raised an eyebrow at him, looking at him with the sassiest expression, but he loved her for it.

“Yours.” He agreed, more boldly this time as he secured his hands on her. “You better take responsibility for me.”

“What have I gotten myself into?” She smirked, but wrapped her arms around his waist to reciprocate his embrace. “Didn’t know that Kim Byeongkwan was that needy.”

“Only around you, Shin Ryujin.” He grinned at her with the goofiest expression he could come up with, causing her to laugh again. “And you should know it.”

“Dork!” She tightened her hold on him.

He gazed at her as she giggled, his eyes examining every inch of the face he loved so dearly. From her pale skin to her bright eyes to her rosy cheeks, moving down her cute nose bridge and resting on those pink, kissable lips – he took every detail of her in.

She noticed him staring–she always did, and smiled her beautiful smile. She always gave him a beautiful smile when she felt his prolonged gaze on her.

“… I always wanted to tell you.” She looked up at him with such bright eyes that his breath hitched, the face of the one he loved full of the same adoration he held for her.

“Tell me what?” He whispered.

Did he lessen the gap between them or did she? His face was so close to hers that their noses were brushing against each other, breaths exchanged as he rested his forehead against hers.

“I always wanted to tell you, ‘thank you’. Thank you.” She closed her eyes, a content smile on her face as she pressed her face against his, so close that they could kiss, but not quite kissing yet.

“Thank you for what?” He pulled away as he furrowed his brow, doing his best to run through his memories again although it was useless in producing anything.

She laughed at the way he crinkled his face.

“You’re such a dork!”

“I’m trying to remember!” He barked back, keeping his face tight as he tried to rack his brain.

“You wouldn’t remember, silly.” She laughed again, the bright sound like music to his ears. “It wasn’t that significant. I wouldn’t remember it, if I were you. To be honest… I only remember, because it was you.”

“… What?” He was sure he looked stupid with a dumb expression on his face because she laughed again.

“Silly Oppa,” She said affectionately.

This time, he was aware that it was her who brought her face closer to his, gently rubbing her nose against his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryujin could remember it as clearly as yesterday.

She was 14, a bright-eyed middle school kid, with dreams that reached beyond the stars as she walked through the hallways of the JYP practice rooms in awe. It was a dream in itself to get into JYP and she couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have been chosen.

She’d soon learn that dreams beyond the stars came with showers of cosmic hardships with the intention of crushing her. She’d soon realize dreams came with a steep price, that a part of her would have to die to make the dream a reality. Lucky for her, she met someone who inspired her enough to make that sacrifice.

And on her first day, too.

_Ryujin felt so giddy, she could squeal with joy. She couldn’t believe she had made it. She was in JYP Entertainment, the company of global stars. The same company as GOT7!_

_She felt like Alice in Wonderland as she walked down the hall, looking around at every crack in the ground, hole in the wall, everything that made the building. She snuck glances into rooms, peaking at the different trainees who would now be her partners and friends in this journey to stardom._

_Almost all the doors were closed, trainees refusing to be disturbed in their practice time. All, but one._

_When she finally reached the end of the floor, there was one door that was left open, with music blasting so loud that its resonance echoed down the hall. She found herself entranced by foreign music with English words she didn’t understand seeping through the crack in the door. It was the only room that was open and being the curious kid that she was, she held a breath and looked inside._

_She didn’t plan on interrupting anyone so as long as she wasn’t seen or heard, it’d be fine right?_

_The sight took her breath away. There was a boy dancing, his movements as fluid as water yet as sharp as a knife; an alluring expression on his face while his eyes were strong with passion; his body radiating with power and control as he moved. It was like he was in a trance, absorbed by his own dancing, and she became enchanted with him, watching his every move. Ryujin didn’t know what song he was dancing to, but it didn’t matter because either way, she was completely mesmerized._

_Like a dream, it abruptly ended when he suddenly paused and whirled around, his burning eyes connecting with hers. His eyes broke her spell. She blinked and let out an inaudible gasp, her cheeks heating up as she shrank back. But then his hardened eyes relaxed and he smiled at her. It wasn’t a wide smile, but seeing that brittle face softened at her sent butterflies fluttering around in her stomach._

_She bit her lower lip, uncertain whether she should run away or introduce herself, when she heard voices come from the same room._

_“Did you see the new girl who came in?”_

_The boy who danced in front of her turned his head in the direction of the voice, whose face was blocked from her view. Without thinking, she found herself inching closer, her gut feeling steeling her to stay._

_“Yeah. Shin Ryujin. What about her?” A different voice, deep this time, but whose face was also blocked from her view._

_“I heard she was scouted for her looks at a GOT7 fanmeet. But have you seen her? She’s nothing special!” The squeaky voice continued._

_“Yeah, she’s average.” The deep voice hummed._

_“Average?” Squeaky snorted. “If that’s average, anyone can be an idol.”_

_Ryujin felt a slight constriction in her chest and swallowed uncomfortably, but it was as if her feet were glued to the ground, her body refusing to let her flee, all while her eyes remained on the boy who still stood in her peripheral view._

_“Well, she dances alright.”_

_How did deep voice know what she danced like?_

_“Then have her be a back-up dancer. Why recruit her as a trainee?”_

_“You guys done yapping?” Enchanting boy in her front view finally spoke up, a roughness to his voice that she wasn’t expecting._

_“Chill! You’re too intense, Hyung!” Squeaky whined._

_“Why are you wasting your time trash-talking about someone else?” He retorted. “Especially, about a middle school student? Don’t you feel ashamed?”_

_His voice was different. It wasn’t deep or squeaky like the other two voices she heard. It was nasally with a nice ring to it, like a bell. His timber was high, not childishly high, and it made her feel warm inside, the constriction in her chest loosening up as he glanced at her before turning back to the others with a scowl on his face._

_“We were in middle school when we started training too!” Squeaky complained_

_“Well we’re still here, aren’t we?” He snapped. “Use your time to better yourself, instead of putting someone else down.”_

_When he turned to face her with an apologetic expression on his face, she found herself beaming at him._

_Until he took a step towards her._

_She panicked and immediately took off running down the hallway back to where she came from. If he peered out the door to look at her, she didn’t know as she didn’t look back. But long after she had stopped running and had settled in bed for the night, her heart still pounded wildly in her chest._

“I don’t remember.”

Byeongkwan’s dry voice set her off laughing again.

“I told you, you wouldn’t!” She giggled, shaking her head at him.

“But now, I feel bad!” He scowled. “I was that nice and suddenly a jerk to you five years later during MixNine. How’d you fall for such a bipolar jerk?”

“Oppa!” She chided. “You are NOT a bipolar jerk! And I did not fall for you, by the way!”

She smiled as he stiffened, his crestfallen expression reminding her of a wounded puppy. It never failed to amaze her how quickly his mood could change. He was so childish at times, it made her want to coo.

“I didn’t fall, but I followed… because I was inspired. You inspired me – to love dancing, to take practice seriously, to do my best. You still do.” She took a step closer to him so that their bodies were pressed together.

“I didn’t fall in love… My inspiration made me follow it. I followed in love.” She beamed at him, watching as he took all of this in.

Ryujin smiled as he crinkled his face, something she noticed he did whenever he was deep into thought or processing something.

Maybe another day, she could tell him how the month of their overlapped training time was the best time of her pre-debut life. She’d tell him how after that day, every chance she got she would steal peaks into the open room where she found him dancing. She’d share how when she was lucky, she’d catch a snippet of him singing, his nasally voice engraving its sound into her soul. She’d share how she swooned when she found out he was a recent high school graduate, which made him infinitely more cooler in comparison to all the other immature male trainees her age. She’d share how she never got a chance to introduce herself to him formally, as she was too shy to talk to him.

Maybe he’d slowly remember that there were a few times when he noticed her spying on him during his practice time, causing him to smile warmly at her and wave. Hopefully one day he’d remember how she scurried off with an uncontrollable blush on her cheeks as his chuckles echoed behind her. Then she’d be able to share how disappointed she felt when he ended up leaving the company, leaving her with only his memory to inspire her to keep dancing.

One day, she’d describe how her heart burst in excitement when she first saw him on the bus as they entered MixNine. She’d confess to him about her confusion in depth regarding his attitude towards her on the show. One day, she’d share with him the extent of her happiness the day that he confessed towards her.

One day, but not today, because it seemed that he was still taking everything in. But Ryujin was in no rush. She didn’t mind sharing a little bit at a time, piece-by-piece of their past. After all, they had all the present and future waiting for them.

She let go of him, smiling as he remained entranced by her words. A mischievous smile tugged on her lips as she slowly backed away from him. The expression on his face was just perfect for capturing the moment.

She stood about an arm’s distance away, lifting her phone up and stifling a giggle as she got ready to snap a quick shot of him when without a word, his arm shot out. She let out a yelp as he yanked her back to him only to be met with soft lips pressed up against hers.

She smiled and closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss, her own arms coming up to embrace him.

He had caught her. Again.

The first few times, Ryujin had caught him completely off-guard, having her phone ready at any given opportunity to snap photos as she pleased. He would scowl and whine that she only took embarrassing photos of him and nag her to delete them, which of course, she never did. After all, she’d argue that the crinkle in his forehead was more endearing than embarrassing. But after two weeks had gone by, he had caught on and blocked her countless times from taking any unplanned, candid photo.

That was just her Oppa for you – he always caught on fast, easily adapting to his circumstances. Everything about him was sharp, from his piercing eyes to his precise dance movements to his quick tongue.

At the same time, everything about him was incredibly soft when it came to Ryujin; From his round cheeks that she loved to poke, to his hearty laugh whenever she came up with something witty, to his sweet kisses as he gently pressed himself against her. Everything was soft, just like the first day they had met.

“…I may not remember the past,” He murmured against her lips, “But I promise I won’t ever forget the present. Or the future. I love you, Shin Ryujin.”

She smiled, her heart thumping slowly in her chest, as it always did with anything regarding him.

“I know you do.” She closed her eyes, pressing her nose closer to his.

“So much.” He whispered, his lips barely brushing against hers. “More than you know.”

“More than YOU know.” She giggled, pulling her head back so she could gaze into his eyes boldly. “I’ve loved you for five years.”

“I’ll love you for more.”

The confident smile on his face assured a promise and while Ryujin knew that in her world, eternal promises were fruitless, she believed in the promise she saw in his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this work! This is a sequel to 'Complicated' and so if you haven't read that yet, please check it out as this work might make more sense after reading the first part. I hope you enjoyed seeing a part of Ryujin's perspective. :D
> 
> P.S. Please stay healthy and safe during these crazy times. Practice social distancing and order boba/bubble tea to-go rather than hanging out at tea shops (AKA DON'T FOLLOW THE CHARACTERS' EXAMPLES X0). Hee hee


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